1st Edition

Laser Cooling Fundamental Properties and Applications

By Galina Nemova Copyright 2016
    478 Pages 36 Color & 150 B/W Illustrations
    by Jenny Stanford Publishing

    478 Pages 36 Color & 150 B/W Illustrations
    by Jenny Stanford Publishing

    In the recent decades, laser cooling or optical refrigeration—a physical process by which a system loses its thermal energy as a result of interaction with laser light—has garnered a great deal of scientific interest due to the importance of its applications. Optical solid-state coolers are one such application. They are free from liquids as well as moving parts that generate vibrations and introduce noise to sensors and other devices. They are based on reliable laser diode pump systems. Laser cooling can also be used to mitigate heat generation in high-power lasers.

    This book compiles and details cutting-edge research in laser cooling done by various scientific teams all over the world that are currently revolutionizing optical refrigerating technology. It includes recent results on laser cooling by redistribution of radiation in dense gas mixtures, three conceptually different approaches to laser cooling of solids such as cooling with anti-Stokes fluorescence, Brillouin cooling, and Raman cooling. It also discusses crystal growth and glass production for laser cooling applications. This book will appeal to anyone involved in laser physics, solid-state physics, low-temperature physics or cryogenics, materials research, development of temperature sensors, or infrared detectors.

    Laser Cooling of Dense Gases by Collisional Redistribution of Radiation

    Anne Saβ, Stavros Christopoulos, and Martin Weitz

    Introduction

    Redistribution of Radiation

    Experimental Setup and Methods

    Laser Cooling Experiments on Dense Mixtures

    Kennard–Stepanov Experiments

    Conclusions

    Laser Cooling in Rare Earth–Doped Glasses and Crystals

    Galina Nemova

    Introduction

    Thermodynamics of Laser Cooling of Solids

    Fundamentals of Laser Cooling in Rare Earth–Doped Solids

    Optical Cavities

    Laser Cooling in Rare Earth–Doped Glasses and Crystals

    Temperature Measurements

    Conclusions

    Progress toward Laser Cooling of Thulium-Doped Fibers

    Nai-Hang Kwong, Rolf Binder, Dan Nguyen,

    and Arturo Chavez-Pirson

    Introduction

    Theoretical Developments

    Experimental Developments

    Laser Cooling of Solids around 2.07 Microns: A Theoretical Investigation

    Guang-Zong Dong and Xin-Lu Zhang

    Introduction

    Conventional Laser Cooling of Holmium-Doped Fluoride Crystals

    Efficient and Enhanced Holmium Optical Refrigeration via Co-Pumping

    Energy Transfer–Enhanced Laser Cooling in Rare Earth–Co-Doped Solids

    Conclusions

    Optically Cooled Lasers

    Steven R. Bowman

    Introduction

    Laser Thermal Management

    Theory of Low–Quantum Defect Laser Materials

    Low–Quantum Defect Laser Experiments

    Summary

    Appendix

    Methods for Laser Cooling of Solids

    Stephen C. Rand

    Introduction

    Cooling with Anti-Stokes Fluorescence

    Brillouin Cooling

    Raman Cooling

    Deep Laser Cooling of Rare Earth–Doped Crystals by Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage

    Andrei Ivanov, Yuriy Rozhdestvensky,and Evgeniy Perlin

    Introduction

    Vibronic Model of Laser Cooling of Rare Earth Ions

    Laser Cooling of the Yb3+:CaF2 System

    Conclusions

    Bulk Cooling Efficiency Measurements of Yb-Doped Fluoride Single Crystals and Energy Transfer–Assisted Anti-Stokes Cooling in Co-Doped Fluorides

    Azzurra Volpi, Alberto Di Lieto, and Mauro Tonelli

    Introduction

    Optical Cooling Model for Rare Earth–Doped Materials

    Experimental Setup

    Experimental Results

    Concluding Remarks

    Interferometric Measurement of Laser-Induced Temperature Changes

    B. Rami Reddy

    Historical Development of Temperature Sensors

    Rare Earth Luminescence Spectroscopy and Temperature Sensors

    Mach–Zehnder Interferometer

    Optical Heterodyne Technique

    Michelson Interferometer

    Fluoride Glasses and Fibers

    Mohammed Saad

    Introduction

    Bulk Glass

    Glass Characterization

    Optical Fiber

    Crystal Growth of Fluoride Single Crystals for Optical Refrigeration

    Azzurra Volpi, Alberto Di Lieto, and Mauro Tonelli

    Introduction

    The Czochralski Growth Method

    Crystal Growth of Fluorides

    The Growth Facility at the NMLA Laboratory of Pisa University

    Crystal Growth of Cooling Materials at the NMLA Laboratory: Recent Results

    Concluding Remarks

    Microscopic Theory of Optical Refrigeration of Semiconductors

    Rolf Binder and Nai-Hang Kwong

    Introduction

    Theoretical Foundation and the Importance of Excitonic Effects

    Effect of Luminescence Propagation and Re-Absorption

    Finite Spatial Beam Profiles

    Theory of Passivation Layers

    Coulomb-Assisted Laser Cooling of Piezoelectric Semiconductors

    Iman Hassani Nia and Hooman Mohseni

    Introduction

    Piezoelectricity in Semiconductors

    Basics of Optomechanical Cooling and Amplification

    Coulomb Interaction in Semiconductors and Its Application for Laser Cooling

    Effect of the Separated Electron and Hole Wave Functions on the Recombination Rates

    Formalism of Coulomb-Assisted Laser Cooling of Semiconductors

    Comparison of Coulomb-Assisted Cooling in Piezoelectric Materials with Collisionally Aided Laser Cooling

    Concluding Remarks

    Biography

    Galina Nemova is a research fellow at École Polytechnique de Montréal, Canada, since 2004. She received her M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Russia, in 1987 and 1990, respectively. She served as a staff scientific researcher at the Koteľnikov Institute of Radio-engineering and Electronics of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia (1990–2000). She was engaged as a research fellow at Laval University, Quebec, Canada (2000–2002) and was an optical engineer/researcher at Bragg Photonics Inc., Montreal, Canada (2002–2004). Dr. Nemova is a senior member of the Optical Society of America. She has edited one book and authored more than 100 papers. Her research interests cover a broad range of topics such as laser cooling of solids, fiber lasers and amplifiers, Raman lasers, nonlinear optics, fiber sensors, planar optical waveguides, fiber Bragg gratings, long period gratings, and surface polaritons.

    "This book provides a timely and useful collection of articles on optical refrigeration science that complements the earlier books on this subject. It covers a wide range of topics, including laser cooling in dense gases, radiation-balanced lasers, novel cooling methods, and laser cooling in semiconductors. It should serve as a valuable reference for the scientists and graduate students studying this emerging interdisciplinary field."

    —Prof. Mansoor Sheik-Bahae, The University of New Mexico, USA

    "This book presents a significant overview of the entire field of laser cooling of bulk matter, with many new results and recent novel directions of investigation. It is written by a large number of well-qualified experts, covering a broad range of ideas, particularly with clear figures and well-organized tables. It would make an excellent reference for spectroscopists, condensed matter physicists, crystallographers, and laser scientists."

    —Prof. Carl E. Mungan, United States Naval Academy, USA